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Next Stop the 20th Century
Next Stop the 20th Century is the tenth mission in the classic campaign of Railroad Tycoon II. It is the fourth mission of the European act of the classic campaign. The premise of the scenario is the role that railroads played in the expansion of French industrialization in the late 19th century. The map used for this mission is a modified version of the Central Europe standalone scenario. Overview Introduction Spiel From the tranquil agricultural settings in the Bordeaux to the intensifying industrialization in the cities, France's underperforming hodge podge of rails is a source of economic irritation and national shame. Ironically, France's nationalism cop-run are over. It's national and industrial power that France wants from you and your rail-building. While were here, I think I'll partake in some of that fine cuisine... Where can I get me some of them French Fries? Victory Conditions * Bronze: '''Industry Investments totaling $10,000K by 1895. * '''Silver: Bronze condition, and one year of $1,000K industry profits by 1885. * Gold: '''Same as silver, but by 1875. A loss will be triggered if the player neither has ten million in industry investments nor a year of one million industry profits at the end of 1895. Available Bonuses * '''Choice 1: Early access to the 3-Truck Shay * Choice 2: Manager Thomas Crampton, +10% on engine speed. * Choice 3: +$80,000, +25% Goodwill The choice of starting bonus is fairly straightforward here. Choice 1 isn't really useful. Effectively, this choice grants access to the Shay, as it is only available in 1882 normally (22 years into this scenario). Although parts of the Central Europe map is mountainous and could benefit from having the Shay, most of terrain (especially near the start) is flat enough that the Iron Duke is unconditionally better than the Shay, making this a poor bonus. Choice 2 is a strong bonus whose affect will last the entire game. It essentially increases the speed of locomotives by 20%, since manager Thomas Crampton increases steam engine top speed by 10%. As a result, profits will also increase by about 20%, making this a worthwhile bonus. Choice 3 is also a decent bonus, but doesn't quite have the same long-term effect as Choice 2. Although money is fairly tight at the beginning, $80K doesn't make much difference, especially when issuing a bond gives an extra $500K. Increased goodwill will make territories cheaper to buy, but this action isn't really required until close to the end of the scenario. By then, enough money will be made to make this bonus less useful overall. Choice 2 is thus the standout choice for this scenario. Starting Situation * Starting Year: '''1860 * '''Player Name: Napoleon III ** Starting Player Cash: $25K personal cash ** 'Starting Player Stock: '''2,000 shares of Le Grand Ligne (20% of the company) * '''Company Name: '''La Grand Ligne ** '''Starting Company Cash: '$350K The player starts with a single track line between Le Mans and Paris. Paris has a small station with no station buildings. Le Mans has no station. There is also a single track line that goes east of Le Mans to the south of the country where there are often many iron mines and coal mines, as well as a single track line between Rennes and Nantes (no stations). The player also starts with a single Iron Duke locomotive located in between Le Mans and Paris. Ending Spiel Wow...so maybe you do deserve all the glory befitting a true tycoon. But there's still an illusive mountain passage to be explored in the Alps. Strategy This scenario focuses on industry investments. This can be challenging. The player is required to have bought a high number of industries, but also have a high profit resulting from these industries. Getting bronze is fairly easy, the player simply needs to buy $10M worth of industries. Getting silver and gold is more challenging. Not only is the time frame much shorter, but to get $1,000K worth of industry profits, a lot of industries have to be connected and served. Thus, creating efficient and profitable cargo chains is paramount in this mission. Starting Out Start by issuing a bond. Use the money available to build a single track line between the existing track at Le Mans and the track at Rennes. Build medium stations at Le Mans and Rennes, and upgrade Paris to a medium station. For now, just add a sanding & water tower in each station, a roundhouse in Le Mans. With the single locomotive already on the track, have it run a passenger service between Paris, Le Mans and Rennes. Micromanage it's loads for the first year or two in order to maximize it's efficiency. Passenger supply will increase faster than this train can haul away, so it is wise to purchase a second locomotive to run this service once funds become available. After a couple of deliveries, it should be possible to take out a second loan. Now that the player has more money, it's time to start building a freight network. The player starts with a line between Le Mans and the south of France, where there are a lot of Coal Mines and Iron Mines. The player should try and connect as many of these industries to the network as possible. Coal Mines and Iron Mines produce Coal and Iron respectively that can be hauled to a steel mill. Either Le Mans or Paris will start with a steel mill, so the player can haul coal and Iron to one or both of these two cities. Most of the time, either Rennes, Le Mans or Paris will have a Tool and Die Factory. The player should attempt to haul the finished steel from the Steel Mill to the Tool and Die Factory, turning the steel into goods, which can hauled to cities to make massive revenue. It is recommended to serve as many Coal and Iron mines as possible to increase the profit potential of these lines. Also, the player should purchase as many locomotives as necessary to completely haul away all the supply of these mines, once again to maximize profit potential. The important thing to remember is that once an industry is served, the player should focus on saving enough money to purchase the industry, so industry profits can be reaped. Computer players can also buy industries served by the human player, and will do so if it the industry lucrative. Thus, the player should try and buy up industries as soon as they make money. Issuing bonds can help speed this process up. Steel Mills are of particular importance to secure in this scenario. They will generate up to $200K per year in industry profits, and will go a long way to helping to achieve the $1,000K industry profits target. If an important industry is snapped up by an AI. There's no need to worry. Simply stop the trains that are serving the industry, and the AI will sell the industry back to the market once they realize no profits are being made. Then restart locomotives previously stopped, and buy up the industry before it becomes lucrative again. Expanding the Network With the passenger line and freight chain set up, money should begin to roll in. The player's goal is now to connect and serve as many industries as possible, so as to increase the company's industry profits. Steel Mills within France should be the first priority, since the human player has exclusive rights to France, and steel mills is the industry that generates the most industry profit.. The cities of Toulouse, Bourges, Le Mans, Paris are highly likely to have contain Steel Mills. The player should look for Iron and Coal mines that are relatively close to these Steel Mills and haul the raw materials to them. Steel should then be hauled to a city with a Tool and Die Factory to produce goods that can be hauled back to the Steel Mill city. The important thing to remember is that unconnected track is allowed, it is perfectly fine to build isolated freight networks that don't connect to the rest of the track. Once these industries are connected up and bought, the player should be well on their way to reaching the $1,000K industry profits target. Further expansion is probably still needed though, and the players have a choice to consider. The player can either continue building their network in France, utilizing other industry and cargo types, or can create steel production chains in other countries. Both are equally viable, but have their challenges. While continuing in France can utilize existing infrastructure, a lot of industries will need to be profitably connected in order to reach the gold requirement. Generally, the easiest and most profitable production chains tend to be Cattle to Meat Packing Plants, Grain to Bakeries, and Wool to Textile Mills. Moving final products to cities will further increase industry profits and is highly recommended. Meanwhile, expanding elsewhere requires the purchasing of territory rights, and AI track and trains can get in the way at times. Luckily, Britain has rights that are extremely cheap (usually less than $100K), and there is almost always a Steel Mill in Birmingham. There is coal and Iron near Birmingham, this is an easy chain to set up. If further expansion is required, the player should look across the map for Coal and Iron near Steel Mills, and buy the rights to the territory in which the industries are located. An important thing to remember is that the player can easily issue bonds to their desire in trying to afford any expensive territory rights. Eventually, once the player finally has year in which they have $1,000K in industry profits (check in company overview), it is time to switch focus to getting $10M in industry investments. It is highly likely that when the player has $1,000K in profits, that they have less than $10M in investments. It may seem that the player cannot simply just buy unserved industries to fulfill the other condition, since they will decrease industry profits. Luckily for the player, the requirement is that the player only have one year of industry profits above $1,000K. So, once this is achieved, the player can buy as many unprofitable industries as they like, and still win the gold.Category:Railroad Tycoon II Category:Campaign Scenarios